I'm very curious about this amp as it may be something I'd look at purchasing in the next few years. I noticed in the Torii MkIII that there is a tube upgrade option for Shuguang Black Treasure tubes. PSVane does offer similarly spec'd KT88s. Is there a reason that these are not included as upgrades? Also, the manual briefly mentions the use of Tung Sol KT120s. Obviously these tubes would enjoy a longer life run conservatively in the Torii Mono's but are there any advantages or disadvantages sonically?

The Shuguang Black Treasure tubes are soon to be deleted as an option for the TORII MKIII due to inconsistency of product quality. Word is the PSVane are better, however I will let customers buy their own "Fancy" tubes from here on out so I am not stuck in the middle of warranty claims should there be any. I am shipping the TORII MKIII with Tungsol EL34's which I feel are presently the best current production EL34 tubes made.

As for the Zen MONO's, I ship with either JJKT88's or Electro Harmonix KT88's as either are proven winners in the industry and have withstood the test of time.

Again, alternate tubes are going to be left in your hands. The KT120's sound very nice, and slightly darker than the KT88's in these amps. That means depending on the speaker you may like them better or not as good. I find on my high efficiency speakers the 120's darkness is a nice compliment, whereas on my medium efficiency speakers I like the crisper edge of the KT88's.

Steve: This is certainly the right move for Decware. I bought my Treasures directly, and there is zero reason for Decware to be in between such transactions, particularly with the amp voiced so well for the stock tubes.

FWIW, I just received my first order of the newer Psvane 6CA-7 gray bottles. Looking forward to trying them, before deciding on another set. They sure are beautiful, and while I am all too well aware of the book cover bromide, if they sound half as good as they look and are packaged, they should be quite nice indeed.

Lon, I have and I like it. In fact, I got a great deal on a matched quad of those, for better than 1/5 the price of what the Treasures or Psvanes cost. I have stocked the JJs with the specific expectations that one day, one or more of my daughters will have these amps, and they will have a ready, reliable supply of tubes with which to keep them running.

Funny, because when I ordered these Psvanes, I thought to myself: "last exotic, fancy tube." Maybe not, but I am heading that way, and one of the reasons was precisely what led me to order the them in the first place: while swapping tubes, I managed to shatter one of the Treasures. So, naturally I went and checked on ordering another set, and learned about the new gray bottles, etc. Took out the 3 working Treasures, and put in the JJ quad. Hmmm, amp sounds great. Effing, of course it sounds great, because it is a great amp! Maybe a tad less micro-detail. Maybe. Maybe a little less oomph in the lower registers, a little less silkiness in female vocals and perfect roundness in piano. Maybe. And maybe not. But I wasn't about to do a full-on listening swap session at the time. And so, as I sat and listened to the JJs, I said to myself: "last exotic, fancy tubes. Maybe."

I haven't dabbled in exotic tubes for the most part, especially not output tubes because I go through a quad about ten to thirteen months or so, these amps get WORKED, and it's just too expensive to retube with Treasures etc.

I have some cryo'd Tungsol (reissue) EL34s that I'm not that impressed with so I'm surprised they're shipping with the amp now.

I haven't dabbled in exotic tubes for the most part, especially not output tubes because I go through a quad about ten to thirteen months or so, these amps get WORKED, and it's just too expensive to retube with Treasures etc.

Absolutely true. I haven't thrown any of the tubes on a tester in a while, but I would expect some significant drop-off as much as mine have been played over the last 18 months.